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Axe murderer got the wrong woman: court

Isabel Hayes

A man who murdered a prostitute in a brutal axe attack believed she was his ex-wife and "killed the wrong person", a NSW Supreme Court judge has been told.

David John Dunn, 28, was suffering from a delusional disorder when he murdered Rebecca Apps, 28, at Barrack Heights, near Wollongong, on September 9, 2010, his lawyer told told the Supreme Court in Sydney on Thursday.

Dunn has pleaded guilty to murdering Ms Apps, a street sex worker, and to armed robbery.

Ms Apps' mother, Christine Bennett, told Dunn's sentence hearing the light went out of her life when she heard her daughter had been murdered.

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"David, I don't know why you did what you did. I probably never will," Ms Bennett told her daughter's murderer, who sat doubled over in the dock for most of the hearing.

"But you have taken away one of the greatest treasures God ever gave to me."

Ms Apps' sister, Heather Bennett, described her sorrow at not being able to view her sister's mutilated body following the "brutal attack".

"David Dunn took away my last goodbye," Heather Bennett said.

"My sister was an amazing, beautiful, delightful person and should be here today."